Question Stuttering issues in all games, even menus / RTX 3070 + Ryzen 5 5600 + 32 GB RAM

[Hoppv]

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching out for help after months of frustration with persistent stutters and occasional major frame spikes in all games, including lightweight titles, and even in main menus. I’ve already gone through all the usual solutions and tested my hardware extensively, but the problem still persists.

My System Specs:

• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (EVGA)
  • VBIOS updated
  • Driver: 566.36
  • Temps in games: 70–79°C, hotspot up to 89°C
  • Power draw: 180–200W in games
  • PCIe Gen3 x16
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (6 cores, 12 threads)
  • No overclocking, boost clocks ~4450 MHz
  • Temps ~60°C under load
• RAM: 32GB DDR4 3200MHz (Dual channel)
• Storage: Two SSDs (1 NVMe SSD WD Green SN3000 with OS, 1 SATA SSD Apacer AS350)
• PSU: Vinga VPS-550P (550W, 80 PLUS White)
• OS: Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.5472
• Display: 1080p 240Hz (G-SYNC Compatible)
• Motherboard: TUF GAMING A520M-PLUS II

My Problem:

• Random stutters and frame drops every few seconds, even when idle in game menus.
• In CapFrameX/RTSS I see long frametime spikes (e.g., 14ms → 60ms), then it returns to normal.
• In games, I see visible freezing even with >60 FPS in a static menu.
• Happens in all games, even lightweight ones.

What I’ve Already Tried:
Software & Drivers

• Updated and also rolled back NVIDIA drivers (tried clean installs with DDU in Safe Mode).
• Updated VBIOS on GPU
• Updated BIOS on motherboard
• Latest AMD chipset drivers
• Disabled G-SYNC, overlays, Game Bar, Xbox DVR, GeForce Experience
• Set "Prefer Maximum Performance" in NVIDIA Control Panel
• Disabled PCIe power saving in Windows
• Disabled Windows Fast Startup
• Set power plan to High Performance

Monitoring & Testing

• Ran FurMark, OCCT, 3DMark: no crashes or errors
• Temps, clocks, power draw all look healthy
• Tested RAM with MemTest86, no errors
• No system instability or BSOD

BIOS & Hardware tweaks

• Enabled/disabled CPPC, SMT, C-states
• Forced PCIe Gen3 manually

What I Observed:

• During a captured stutter in Arena Breakout menu, GPU clock dropped from 1935 MHz → 1770 MHz, GPU load dropped from 59% → 4%, power draw fell from 120W → 50W, PCIe Rx/Tx traffic almost disappeared, frame buffer usage dropped to 1.
• CPU clocks remained steady (4450 MHz), and no CPU core was maxed out.
• During other stutters in games the same thing was observed, always GPU load and other GPU parameters would sag for a second.

It looks like GPU rendering gets "interrupted" or stalls briefly, then resumes.

If anyone has seen similar behavior, I’d greatly appreciate insight. I'm open to advanced troubleshooting steps and can provide logs/screenshots.

Thanks in advance.

Profile a709568e | Specified

spec-ify.com

 

[Hoppv]

Video link

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykSJAOSEw6E&ab_channel=TonyMontana

Example of stuttering: 04:08

 

[Hoppv]

PC info: https://spec-ify.com/profile/a709568e
PSU: Vinga VPS-550P (550W, 80 PLUS White)

Both SSDs are about half full

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

LatencyMon

LatencyMon checks if a system running Windows is suitable for processing real-time audio and other tasks.

www.techspot.com

Something you may not have tried. This might show if theres a particular driver causing the stutters, its safe and very lightweight.

 

[Hoppv]

LatencyMon

LatencyMon checks if a system running Windows is suitable for processing real-time audio and other tasks.

www.techspot.com

Something you may not have tried. This might show if theres a particular driver causing the stutters, its safe and very lightweight.

I've used this program, but haven't found a clear problem. Maybe you can help?

Spoiler: LatencyMon info

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:16:52 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: TIM
OS version: Windows 11, 10.0, version 2009, build: 22631 (x64)
Hardware: System Product Name, ASUS
BIOS: 3621
CPU: AuthenticAMD AMD Ryzen 5 5600 6-Core Processor
Logical processors: 12
Processor groups: 1
Processor group size: 12
RAM: 32682 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed (WMI): 3501 MHz
Reported CPU speed (registry): 350 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 371.80
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 6.861466

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 368.80
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 4.232753


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 88.260
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.004611
Driver with highest ISR total time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.008245

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 283864
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 457.690
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.183348
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.340069

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 4822721
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 64
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: sguard64.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 11697
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 7361
Number of processes hit: 43


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 111.826904
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 88.260
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.970924
CPU 0 ISR count: 238493
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 457.690
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 40.69010
CPU 0 DPC count: 4647186
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.601417
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 1 ISR count: 0
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 50.850
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.034923
CPU 1 DPC count: 15883
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.099132
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 2 ISR count: 0
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 64.0
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.016078
CPU 2 DPC count: 6295
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.366501
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 50.830
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.010639
CPU 3 DPC count: 3823
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.428110
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 201.080
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.024829
CPU 4 DPC count: 8982
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.106937
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 34.660
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.016665
CPU 5 DPC count: 6800
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.648240
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 47.330
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.051015
CPU 6 DPC count: 18764
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.206030
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 45.740
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.041431
CPU 7 DPC count: 14916
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 6.779028
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 10.130
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.017365
CPU 8 ISR count: 26858
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 39.840
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.141162
CPU 8 DPC count: 45724
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.634006
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 5.130
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.001161
CPU 9 ISR count: 1458
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 40.90
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.028064
CPU 9 DPC count: 9576
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 6.021154
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 5.970
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005163
CPU 10 ISR count: 6984
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 199.780
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.121150
CPU 10 DPC count: 22825
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 6.758485
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 10.140
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.007195
CPU 11 ISR count: 10071
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 62.120
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.143638
CPU 11 DPC count: 22011
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I've used this program, but haven't found a clear problem. Maybe you can help?

The DX kernel latency is pretty high compared to mine, which seems strange.

Ive used that program before and found random utility drivers that were causing the issue, I'm afraid I dont have any advanced troubleshooting advice for you, youve tried all the steps I would have and some. The only thing you havent mentioned is whether you have tried stopping any programs in system tray running like AV or any monitoring software, but I assume you have as youve done everything else pretty comprehensively.

Are you using 2x16Gb RAM from a kit that came in the same packet? 4 Sticks or misamatched RAM can cause weird small isues like this. My only other hunch would be that the PSU you are using is from a vendor I have never heard of and theres no good review I can find, so I wouldnt trust it personally.

Thats a really annoying issue, sorry I cant be of much more help than that. You might be better posting this exact same thing over at Toms Hardware if you havent already.

 

[Hoppv]

The DX kernel latency is pretty high compared to mine, which seems strange.

Ive used that program before and found random utility drivers that were causing the issue, I'm afraid I dont have any advanced troubleshooting advice for you, youve tried all the steps I would have and some. The only thing you havent mentioned is whether you have tried stopping any programs in system tray running like AV or any monitoring software, but I assume you have as youve done everything else pretty comprehensively.

Are you using 2x16Gb RAM from a kit that came in the same packet? 4 Sticks or misamatched RAM can cause weird small isues like this. My only other hunch would be that the PSU you are using is from a vendor I have never heard of and theres no good review I can find, so I wouldnt trust it personally.

Thats a really annoying issue, sorry I cant be of much more help than that. You might be better posting this exact same thing over at Toms Hardware if you havent already.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I have already made a post there. I will try to replace the PSU.
Yes, I'm using two 16gb memory sticks from the same kit. Putting the old 8gb memory sticks in their place does not fix the problem.

 

[Colif]

update windows to 24H2?
does it stutter in safe mode? Would tell you if its hardware/software

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

It doesn’t delete anything, it just stops non Microsoft programs running with start. Easy to reverse.

if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.

Yeah, PSU could be cause. I don't know that name.